La Rosa Vino de Pasto 2023 White

Juan Francisco Pulido, known as El Piraña (The Piranha), has lost track of how many generations of winegrowers came before him in the family. What he does know for certain is that his grandfather used to carry grapes alongside his own grandfather in Trebujena (Cádiz).

When Pulido's father died in 2011, he and his wife Rosa María Pulido decided to concentrate fully on managing the family's eight hectares of vineyards. However, the difficult financial climate at the time forced them to make some adjustments. "When you harvest 100,000 kg of grapes and you're paid 15 cents per kg, you feel like a fool," Pulido says. They downsized to just over four hectares, which they could manage on his own, and started producing must, the name given in southern Spain to young wines which are the base for sherry.

A longtime purveyor of base wines for sherry, Trebujena is famous for its musts. Eighty years ago, there were 60 wineries, but today, apart from the two cooperatives, only El Piraña bottles wine. Pulido believes that the town's location, beside the Guadalquivir marshes, creates a unique microclimate halfway between Sanlúcar and Jerez. "Although we are inland, we are influenced by the cool sea breezes, but we are also exposed to the warm inland winds. It is this combination that  allows the grapes ripen so well," he explains over the phone from his Alventus vineyard, where, he claims, the beaches of Matalascañas in Huelva are visible in the distance.

After selling their musts to various buyers and even opening his own shop they decided to take the next step and bottle their wines. The decision was bolstered by multiple first-place wins in Sherry's mosto competitions and by the success of producers such as Willy Pérez and Ramiro Ibáñez, who had demonstrated that there was a market for unfortified white wines from Jerez.

2022 was the first vintage of Viñedos - Bodega El Piraña. The project, which is certified organic, began with four Palomino whites, which continued into the 2023 vintage: the entry-level Primario, two aged vinos de pasto, La Rosa and Alventus, from specific pagos in Trebujena, and an original pet-nat aged for 20 months called Tarbissana. A total of 5,000 bottles were produced in 2023, with plans to double this figure in 2024.

Our favourite wine is the aged, unfortified white La Rosa. The grapes come from a vineyard in Pago Altajara that the Pulido family has always called La Rosa. This 40-year-old plot sits at 80 metres, which is high for the area, at the top of a slope, on shallow soils that enhance its chalky character. The result is a crisp, serious wine, more mineral than fruity on the nose, with good structure, a pleasant core of white fruit and more acidity than the average in the area. It should develop well in the bottle for at least three to four years. With just a subtle influence from flor yeasts, it is an interesting wine for those who are not big fans of biological ageing but still want to experience the essence of albariza soils in southern Spain. At El Piraña, the casks are filled to the top but not refilled, so the layer of yeasts that develop the wines is very subtle. “The aim is to achieve balance–the flor should lend a graceful touch, not take centre stage," explains Pulido.

100% Palomino
11.5% abv.
1,800 bottles
€22
Score: 92